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Russian businessman linked to Kremlin critic dies in London in mysterious circumstances

British and Russian media report that Nikolai Glushkov, was found dead at his home in southwest London on Monday

The Russian businessman, who was in his late 60s, was associated with a prominent critic of the Kremlin, Boris Berezovsky

Boris Berezovsky, a Russian oligarch and Kremlin critic, died in London in 2013

British authorities say there’s no evidence linking his death to the March 4 poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, in London

Nikolai Glushkov famously complained that “Too many deaths [of Russian emigres] have been happening.” He was found dead at his home in southwest London, on Monday

A Russian businessman who was associated with a prominent critic of the Kremlin has died in London, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Police are treating the death as unexplained and have put counter terrorism detectives in charge of the case. But police said there was no evidence to suggest a link to the March 4 poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
Attorney Andrei Borovkov told Russian media outlets that his client, Nikolai Glushkov, has died, but said he was unaware of the time and circumstances. London’s Metropolitan Police force said counterterrorism detectives are leading the investigation “as a precaution because of associations that [Glushkov], is believed to have had.”
Glushkov, who was in his late 60s, reportedly was found dead at his home in southwest London.
Met police announced that officers are investigating the “unexplained” death of a man found at a house in the New Malden area late Monday. It didn’t release his name, saying formal identification had yet to take place.
Glushkov was an associate of Boris Berezovsky, a Russian oligarch and Kremlin critic who died in London in 2013. An inquest failed to determine whether he had killed himself or died from foul play.

Nikolai Glushkov, reportedly, was found dead at his home in southwest London.

In the 1990s Glushkov was a director of the flagship Russian airline Aeroflot, and Berezovsky’s LogoVAZ auto manufacturing company. In 1999, as Berezovsky fell out with Vladimir Putin and fled to the UK, Glushkov was charged with money laundering and fraud. He spent three years and three months in jail. Freed on time served in 2004, but fearing further arrest, he fled to the UK and was granted political asylum in 2010.
The Kremlin did not let up on him either because in 2017, a Moscow court reviewed Glushkov’s case and sentenced him in absentia to eight years for embezzling more than $122 million from Aeroflot. Subsequently, he made a list published by the Russian Embassy in London in 2017, of Russian citizens wanted for serious crimes whom the UK had refused to extradite, citing an extradition request in 2015 “for committing a number of severe financial offenses on the territory of Russia,” which allegedly denied by the British government.
As a plaintiff’s witness in a 2011 lawsuit brought by Berezovsky in a London court against fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich, who remained on good terms with the Kremlin, Glushkov told the court he had effectively been taken hostage by Putin’s administration, which wanted to pressure Berezovsky to sell his stake in the TV station ORT.

Late Russian Oligarch, Boris Berezovsky spent much of his fortune on a hugely expensive and ultimately fruitless legal battle with fellow oligarch, Roman Abramovich
In court, Berezovsky claimed he had been partners with the soccer club owner, in the 1990s in an oil firm, Sibneft. He accused his former partner of cheating him out of $5bn. Abramovich denied this. The judge rejected the claim and described Berezovsky as “deliberately dishonest”.
Glushkov, unhappy with the judgment and launched a formal appeal, citing “bias”. Meanwhile, Berezovsky disappeared from public life. In March 2013 he was found dead at his ex-wife’s home in Berkshire, UK.
British police said they believed he killed himself but his friends were not so certain, and a coroner recorded an open verdict.
Back in 2013, Glushkov was quoted as saying that he was sceptical that Berezovsky, who was found hanged in a bathroom, took his own life.
“I’m definite Boris was killed. I have quite different information from what is being published in the media,” Glushkoy said.
Highlighting that a large number of outspoken Russians in exile, including Berezovsky and Alexander Litvinenko, had died under mysterious circumstances. “Boris was strangled. Either he did it himself or with the help of someone. [But] I don’t believe it was suicide,” Glushkov said.
“Too many deaths [of Russian emigres] have been happening.”
Glushkov continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding Berezovsky’s death for some months. He conceded that in the period before his friend’s death they had quarrelled. In 2013 Glushkov emailed a friend: “I have a lot of new facts that are of great interest.”